HOPSON POTTER BUSINESS

Jobs are scarce, the housing market is depressed, and business spending is slow. If you’ve been following news on the economy lately, it’s more of the same.

This is a sobering reality check for millions of Americans who continue to hope the economy will soon turn around.

What’s to be done?

We must support and encourage entrepreneurship and new entrepreneurial initiatives in women.

Why? Because it’s entrepreneurs who will create the new jobs millions of Americans sorely need.

Three Things for Women Entrepreneurs to Keep in Mind

1. Don’t indulge in delusional thinking.

In this slithering economy where unemployment is stuck at 9.6%, it’s a blunder to think that we’re going to return to the way things were anytime soon. And who would want to? Things weren’t all that economically great before the recession began.

Let’s face it.

We’re not going to see real estate skyrocket or lost jobs come back overnight. What we are seeing and will continue to see are women entrepreneurs stepping forward to create new jobs. This is what will save the U.S. economy. Not the government. Not big business. The U.S. small business sector expanding and creating new jobs will get us out of this recession.

2. Be realistic.

As an entrepreneur myself, I love the concept of dreaming big and planning big. This kind of expansive thinking can sometimes require you to learn new things or even get licensed or certified in a new area of expertise. However, if you’re thinking about starting up a business, it’s more important than ever before to focus on getting up and going as quickly as possible.

For that reason, the one thing I caution against is starting up a new business that is more than two degrees different from anything else you’ve done before in your life or career.

That’s because, if you extend beyond two degrees, it is likely that you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed with all that you’ll need to learn and do just to get up-to-speed.

So, stick close to what you know. Capitalize on your existing skills and experience when starting up. This will help you get your business going very quickly and will also save you time and money.

3. Expect more and less from your bank. The Small Business Jobs and Credit Act, signed into law by President Obama last month, offers a fresh source of financing for small businesses (including a $ 30 billion lending fund to be distributed by the Treasury Department to qualified small banks that promise to extend new loans to small business). Still, it’s extremely difficult for small businesses to get their hands on that cash.

Now, more than ever, you must make sure that, when you ask lenders for money, your business plan is a “cogent, practical document that lays out where the business has been from a historical perspective and where it’s going and why,” according to Christine Reilly, President of CIT Small Business Lending Corporation.

The days when a small business owner could walk into her hometown bank and borrow money to tide over her struggling business are long gone. Nowadays, banks are asking you to front them money by putting up your personal residence as collateral to secure your loan. Expect this and be prepared with a solid business plan.

While the news on the economy may sound bleak, it’s important for women entrepreneurs not to flounder in the passive state of hoping for things to turn around. What is needed the most is creation of new jobs. And that’s where entrepreneurship and new entrepreneurial initiatives come in. If you are a woman entrepreneur, your time has come to create the new jobs that will be so important in reviving our economy.

Do you remember how almost everyone would gladly work for someone else and stay at their chosen corporation for about forty years in the past? Those were the good old days when employees who were loyal to their organizations were rewarded with job security. Times have changed. Many positions are being outsourced or eliminated and workers can no longer count on having a job for life.

More than ever, people are starting or considering the possibility of starting their own businesses, especially women. Women tend to be a little feistier and more enterprising than men. Why? That is an interesting question. By reading this article, you will pick up insight on what possibly makes women have a stronger entrepreneurial spirit than men.

The Condition of the Economy is a Factor

When the economy is in poor condition and a lot of jobs are eliminated, a lot of people who have merely been pondering the thought of becoming an entrepreneur take this action.

It is reasonable to assume women are the ones who lose most of the jobs out there because they comprise the majority of the population and they have less experience in the workforce, especially because they lose a lot of time on the job due to getting pregnant and taking time off to take care of their children.

Women Must Make Up Ground for being Paid Less than Men

Think about it. If you were not paid a fair share for what you do and achieve on the job compared to others and you believed you were being taken advantage of, wouldn’t you have the audacity to take your talent elsewhere or better yet, start your own business? Because women are paid only about seventy-five percent of what their male counterparts receive, it is understandable why they possess the fortitude to be their own bosses.

Female Entrepreneurs are Probably Looking for Respect

Women have to deal with being thought of as softer and being less capable of running things than men.

By using their talent to run their own enterprises, women can demonstrate their competency and give orders and direction to others rather than take orders and a lack of respect from chauvinistic men.

Many Women Raise Families

Plenty of women give birth to babies and must stay home to look after their children. By running their own companies at home or on the Internet, they can earn an income while not neglecting their children.

Having a Strong Education can be a Factor

Most college students are women; furthermore, some college students take business and entrepreneurial classes. It makes sense for many female college graduates who have taken a lot of business classes to go into business for themselves.

Many Women Have Special Work Experience

A lot of women gain vast work and multi-tasking experience from raising kids and doing most of the household duties. This is a great asset women can use to run their own businesses.

You have learned why women are feistier and more enterprising than men.

Several years ago I conducted a yearlong research study with over 100 working women across the country about professional crises in women and how we can reclaim our lives to overcome them. I was astounded by the findings, and felt they were so universal and important for women, I wrote a book called Breakdown Breakthrough about these 12 crises, offering a three-step holistic model to break through these challenges once and for all.

Since the book came out in 2008, women from all over the country have written to me sharing sentiments such as, You are writing to me, about me, and for me, and Its as if you know exactly what Im living and feeling! My research shows that 9 out of 10 working women are experiencing at least one of these 12 hidden crises, and on average, women are experiencing three at the same time! And over half of these women dont know what to do about it.

These 12 crises are not just tiny bumps in the road but full-out, serious challenges that are marked by chronic disempowered thinking and a serious lack of ability to move oneself forward in positive, powerful ways towards ones goals and visions.

These 12 crises fall into four categories that represent how we relate to ourselves and the world.

These four levels depict the nature of our:

Relationship with Ourselves
Relationship with Others
Relationship with the World
Relationship with Our Higher Selves

In general, each crisis is characterized by an I cant do this! mantra, or some form of disempowered thinking, beliefs and actions. The crises include:

I cant speak up for myself.
I cant get out of this financial trap.
I cant escape this crushing competition.
I cant resolve my chronic health problems.
I dont like who Ive become.
I cant use my real talents in my work.
I cant balance life and work.
I cant do work and play that I love.

Entrepreneurial Women Experience the Same Challenges

As I move forward with marketing consulting work for entrepreneurial women around the country, Im finding that these same 12 crises are challenging women in their entrepreneurial ventures as well, and in the ways in which they view and run their businesses!

Entrepreneurial women are challenged on these same four levels:

Relationship With Themselves as Entrepreneurs
Key issue: Do I have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, and am I good or smart enough to run this business?

Relationship With Others
Key issue: How can I forge a mutually-beneficial and supporting relationship with clients, customers, colleagues, and peers?

Relationship With The World
Key issue: Am I using my real gifts and talents in this business, and is my business providing a service to the world that I care about delivering, that others need and want?

Relationship With the Higher Self
Key issue: Does my business have a higher mission, vision and values that mean more to me than simply making money?

If youre an entrepreneurial woman and are challenged with any of the above issues in your life and work please know that there is indeed help out there for you, and these are very common challenges that entrepreneurial women face. Also know that new thinking and actions can indeed shift you away from feeling disempowered and unable to tackle the issues at hand. You can do this, and you can do it well, loving your work and thriving in the process. But you had to take action, and a kind of action that is different from what you normally would engage in.

There are four key steps to overcoming these types of challenges:

1. Step Back to gain a fresh, empowered perspective of your situation and what it is telling you about what needs to change

2. Let Go of the thinking, actions, and behaviors that are keeping you stuck and holding you back

3. Say Yes! to your compelling future visions of your business and of your success as an entrepreneurial woman

4. Create It – create a S.M.A.R.T. plan with concrete, measurable goals and action steps — and find someone to help you become accountable — for moving on your way to achieving your visions of success and fulfillment.

Try this experiment! Pick up a copy of my book Breakdown Breakthrough and read it. (Try carving out a bit of time just for yourself over the holidays and read the chapters that really speak to you.) As you read the book and the powerful stories and advice presented by women who have transformed their lives and work, focus specifically on the concepts and information that elicit a feeing of resistance in you ideas or words that make you say to yourself, Oh, I really dont want to look at that, or Thats not me! Then take one, targeted action that will help you address the area you resist the most.

One of the most powerful concepts I learned in therapy training is, What you resist, persists. Watch closely what you resist, because resistance is a sign that youre overly attached to one particular view or approach, and youve closed yourself off from openly exploring other avenues. Ive found that the biggest breakthroughs, learning and growth come when we muster the courage to walk directly toward — and through — what we resist the most.